Discussing the Divine Comedy

This is “Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante”, an 2006 oil painting by Dai Dudu, Li Tiezi, and Zhang An. The title is lifted from Dante’s opus magnum The Divine Comedy, or divina commedia in its original language.

If you have ever shown a passing interest in literature or the arts, it’s almost impossible not to come across references to Dante’s work. Written in the early 14th century, it has served as inspiration for all manners of artists and sculptors and playwrights and writers and what have you for the past 700 years, and from that above painting, is still doing so. Anyway, the painting features a great selection of historical figures and influential personalities ranging from Qin Shi Huang to Steven Spielberg.

The painting first surfaced as an anonymous viral internet hit earlier this year, and netizens had much fun guessing the identities of the people featured in the painting, as well as solving the mysteries behind it – who drew it, why etc.

These internet detectives built a comprehensive list of the personalities, and someone has cleverly linked each face to its own wikipedia entry, so if you have ever harboured dreams of becoming a brainy smartass, this is the place to start. That link also points to a larger image, because with the small one posted here you can’t even see Einstein’s hair.